Plasma treatment process for in-situ chamber cleaning efficiency enhancement in plasma processing chamber

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the disclosure include methods for in-situ chamber cleaning efficiency enhancement process for a plasma processing chamber utilized for a semiconductor substrate fabrication process. In one embodiment, a method for performing a plasma treatment process after cleaning a plasma process includes performing a cleaning process in a plasma processing chamber in absent of a substrate disposed thereon, subsequently supplying a plasma treatment gas mixture including at least a hydrogen containing gas and/or an oxygen containing gas into the plasma processing chamber, applying a RF source power to the processing chamber to form a plasma from the plasma treatment gas mixture, and plasma treating an interior surface of the processing chamber.

BACKGROUND Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods andapparatus for in-situ enhancing cleaning efficiency of a plasmaprocessing chamber. Particularly, embodiments of the present disclosurerelate to methods and apparatus for a plasma treatment process performedto in-situ enhance cleaning efficiency of a plasma processing chamberafter a plasma process.

Description of the Related Art

Semiconductor processing involves a number of different chemical andphysical processes whereby minute integrated circuits are created on asubstrate. Layers of materials which make up the integrated circuit arecreated by chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition,epitaxial growth, chemical treatment, electrochemical process and thelike. Some of the layers of material are patterned using photoresistmasks and wet or dry etching techniques. The substrate utilized to formintegrated circuits may be silicon, gallium arsenide, indium phosphide,glass, or other appropriate material.

A typical semiconductor processing chamber includes a chamber bodydefining a process zone, a gas distribution assembly adapted to supply agas from a gas supply into the process zone, a gas energizer, e.g., aplasma generator, utilized to energize the process gas to process asubstrate positioned on a substrate support assembly, and a gas exhaust.During plasma processing, the energized gas is often comprised of ions,radicals and highly reactive species which etches and erodes exposedportions of the processing chamber components, for example, anelectrostatic chuck that holds the substrate during processing.Additionally, processing by-products are often deposited on chambercomponents which must be periodically cleaned typically with highlyreactive fluorine. Accordingly, in order to maintain cleanliness of theprocessing chamber, a periodic cleaning process is performed to removethe by-products from the processing chamber. By-products deposited onchamber components or chamber inner walls are periodically cleanedtypically with highly reactive chemicals. Attack from the reactivespecies during processing and cleaning reduces the lifespan of thechamber components and increase service frequency. Additionally, flakes,such as aluminum fluoride (AlF), from the eroded parts of the chambercomponent may become a source of particulate contamination duringsubstrate processing. Furthermore, AlF₃ formed on a relatively hightemperature component surface during cleaning process could sublimatebut later deposit on a relatively low temperature chamber componentsurface, such as showerhead, after the cleaning process. This residualdeposit can result in premature chamber component failure and frequentchamber maintenance. Therefore, promoting plasma resistance of chambercomponents and reducing damage to the chamber component duringprocessing and cleaning are desirable to increase service life of theprocessing chamber, reduce chamber downtime, reduce maintenancefrequency, and improve product yields.

Therefore, there is a need for an improved process for maintainingcleanliness of the processing chamber as well as the integrity of thechamber components to increase the lifetime of chamber components.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the disclosure include methods for in-situ chambercleaning efficiency enhancement process for a plasma processing chamberutilized for a semiconductor substrate fabrication process. In oneembodiment, a method for performing a plasma treatment process aftercleaning a plasma process includes performing a cleaning process in aplasma processing chamber in absent of a substrate disposed therein,subsequently supplying a plasma treatment gas mixture including at leasta hydrogen containing gas and/or an oxygen containing gas into theplasma processing chamber, applying a RF source power to the processingchamber to form a plasma from the plasma treatment gas mixture, andplasma treating an interior surface of the processing chamber.

In another embodiment, a method for in-situ chamber cleaning includesperforming a cleaning process in a plasma processing chamber in absentof a substrate disposed therein, in-situ performing a plasma treatmentprocess in the processing chamber, and performing a seasoning processafter the plasma treatment process in the processing chamber, whereinthe cleaning process, plasma treatment process and the seasoning processare controlled by a single recipe integrated in the plasma processingchamber.

In yet embodiment, a method for performing a plasma treatment processafter cleaning a plasma process includes supplying a cleaning gasmixture including a fluorine containing gas supplied form a remoteplasma source in a plasma processing chamber, supplying a plasmatreatment gas mixture including oxygen containing gas and hydrogencontaining gas to form a plasma from a RF source power generated in theplasma treatment gas mixture to remove metal contaminants from aninterior surface of the processing chamber, and supplying a seasoningfilm gas mixture to form a seasoning layer on the interior surface ofthe plasma processing chamber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the presentdisclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description ofthe disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference toembodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Itis to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate onlytypical embodiments of this disclosure and are therefore not to beconsidered limiting of its scope, for the disclosure may admit to otherequally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of a plasma processing chamber foraccording to one embodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart of a method for performing a plasmatreatment process after a cleaning process according to one embodimentof the disclosure.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common tothe figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in oneembodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments withoutspecific recitation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatus forenhancing cleaning efficiency of an in-situ cleaning process performedin a plasma processing chamber. In one example, the cleaning efficiencyof a cleaning process may be enhanced by performing a plasma treatmentprocess after the chamber cleaning process to remove process byproductresiduals from the processing chamber. One example of a plasma treatmentgas mixture utilized during the plasma treatment includes a hydrogencontaining gas mixture, such as H₂ gas, and/or an oxygen containing gasmixture. After the plasma treatment process, a seasoning process may bethen performed to coat a seasoning layer on an interior surface of theprocessing chamber.

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a plasma processing system 132suitable for performing a plasma process that may be utilized assemiconductor interconnection structures for semiconductor devicesmanufacture. The processing system 132 may be a suitably adaptedCENTURA®, Producer® SE or Producer® GT or Producer® XP processing systemavailable from Applied Materials, Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif. It iscontemplated that other processing systems, including those produced byother manufacturers, may benefit from embodiments described herein.

The processing system 132 includes a chamber body 151. The chamber body151 includes a lid 125, a sidewall 101 and a bottom wall 122 that definean interior volume 126.

A substrate support pedestal 150 is provided in the interior volume 126of the chamber body 151. The pedestal 150 may be fabricated fromaluminum, ceramic, aluminum nitride, and other suitable materials. Inone embodiment, the pedestal 150 is fabricated by a ceramic material,such as aluminum nitride, which is a material suitable for use in a hightemperature environment, such as a plasma process environment, withoutcausing thermal damage to the pedestal 150. The pedestal 150 may bemoved in a vertical direction inside the chamber body 151 using a liftmechanism (not shown).

The pedestal 150 may include an embedded heater element 170 suitable forcontrolling the temperature of a substrate 190 supported on the pedestal150. In one embodiment, the pedestal 150 may be resistively heated byapplying an electric current from a power supply 106 to the heaterelement 170. In one embodiment, the heater element 170 may be made of anickel-chromium wire encapsulated in a nickel-iron-chromium alloy (e.g.,INCOLOY®) sheath tube. The electric current supplied from the powersupply 106 is regulated by the controller 110 to control the heatgenerated by the heater element 170, thereby maintaining the substrate190 and the pedestal 150 at a substantially constant temperature duringfilm deposition at any suitable temperature range. In anotherembodiment, the pedestal may be maintained at room temperature asneeded. In yet another embodiment, the pedestal 150 may also include achiller (not shown) as needed to cool the pedestal 150 at a range lowerthan room temperature as needed. The supplied electric current may beadjusted to selectively control the temperature of the pedestal 150between about 100 degrees Celsius to about 700 degrees Celsius.

A temperature sensor 172, such as a thermocouple, may be embedded in thesubstrate support pedestal 150 to monitor the temperature of thepedestal 150 in a conventional manner. The measured temperature is usedby the controller 110 to control the power supplied to the heaterelement 170 to maintain the substrate at a desired temperature.

The pedestal 150 generally includes a plurality of lift pins (not shown)disposed therethrough that are configured to lift the substrate 190 fromthe pedestal 150 and facilitate exchange of the substrate 190 with arobot (not shown) in a conventional manner.

The pedestal 150 comprises at least one electrode 192 for retaining thesubstrate 190 on the pedestal 150. The electrode 192 is driven by achucking power source 108 to develop an electrostatic force that holdsthe substrate 190 to the pedestal surface, as is conventionally known.Alternatively, the substrate 190 may be retained to the pedestal 150 byclamping, vacuum or gravity.

In one embodiment, the pedestal 150 is configured as a cathode havingthe electrode 192 embedded therein coupled to at least one RF bias powersource, shown in FIG. 1A as two RF bias power sources 184, 186. Althoughthe example depicted in FIG. 1A shows two RF bias power sources, 184,186, it is noted that the numbers of the RF bias power sources may beany number as needed. The RF bias power sources 184, 186 are coupledbetween the electrode 192 disposed in the pedestal 150 and anotherelectrode, such as a gas distribution plate 142 or ceiling 125 of theprocessing system 132. The RF bias power source 184, 186 excites andsustains a plasma discharge formed from the gases disposed in theprocessing region of the processing system 132.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, the dual RF bias power sources184, 186 are coupled to the electrode 192 disposed in the pedestal 150through a matching circuit 104. The signal generated by the RF biaspower source 184, 186 is delivered through matching circuit 104 to thepedestal 150 through a single feed to ionize the gas mixture provided inthe plasma processing system 132, thereby providing ion energy necessaryfor performing a deposition or other plasma enhanced process. The RFbias power sources 184, 186 are generally capable of producing an RFsignal having a frequency of from about 50 kHz to about 200 MHz and apower between about 0 Watts and about 5000 Watts.

A vacuum pump 102 is coupled to a port formed in the bottom 122 of thechamber body 151. The vacuum pump 102 is used to maintain a desired gaspressure in the chamber body 151. The vacuum pump 102 also evacuatespost-processing gases and by-products of the process from the chamberbody 151.

The processing system 132 includes one or more gas delivery passages 144coupled through the lid 125 of the processing system 132. The gasdelivery passages 144 and the vacuum pump 102 are positioned at oppositeends of the processing system 132 to induce laminar flow within theinterior volume 126 to minimize particulate contamination.

The gas delivery passage 144 is coupled to the gas panel 193 through aremote plasma source (RPS) 148 to provide a gas mixture into theinterior volume 126. In one embodiment, the gas mixture supplied throughthe gas delivery passage 144 may be further delivered through a gasdistribution plate 142 disposed below the gas delivery passage 144. Inone example, the gas distribution plate 142 having a plurality ofapertures 143 is coupled to the lid 125 of the chamber body 151 abovethe pedestal 150. The apertures 143 of the gas distribution plate 142are utilized to introduce process gases from the gas panel 193 into thechamber body 151. The apertures 143 may have different sizes, number,distributions, shape, design, and diameters to facilitate the flow ofthe various process gases for different process requirements. A plasmais formed from the process gas mixture exiting the gas distributionplate 142 to enhance thermal decomposition of the process gasesresulting in the deposition of material on the surface 191 of thesubstrate 190.

The gas distribution plate 142 and substrate support pedestal 150 may beformed a pair of spaced apart electrodes in the interior volume 126. Oneor more RF sources 147 provide a bias potential through a matchingnetwork 145 to the gas distribution plate 142 to facilitate generationof a plasma between the gas distribution plate 142 and the pedestal 150.Alternatively, the RF sources 147 and matching network 145 may becoupled to the gas distribution plate 142, substrate support pedestal150, or coupled to both the gas distribution plate 142 and the substratesupport pedestal 150, or coupled to an antenna (not shown) disposedexterior to the chamber body 151. In one embodiment, the RF sources 147may provide between about 10 Watts and about 3000 Watts at a frequencyof about 30 kHz to about 13.6 MHz. Alternatively, the RF source 147 maybe a microwave generator that provide microwave power to the gasdistribution plate 142 that assists generation of the plasma in theinterior volume 126.

Examples of gases that may be supplied from the gas panel 193 mayinclude a silicon containing gas, fluorine continuing gas, oxygencontaining gas, hydrogen containing gas inert gas and carrier gases.Suitable examples of the reacting gases includes a silicon containinggas, such as SiH₄, Si₂H₆, SiF₄, SiH₂Cl₂, Si₄H₁₀, Si₅H₁₂, TEOS and thelike. Suitable carrier gas includes nitrogen (N₂), argon (Ar), hydrogen(H₂), alkanes, alkenes, helium (He), oxygen (O₂), ozone (O₃), watervapor (H₂O), and the like.

In one embodiment, the remote plasma source (RPS) 148 may bealternatively coupled to the gas delivery passages 144 to assist informing a plasma from the gases supplied from the gas panel 193 into thein the interior volume 126. The remote plasma source 148 provides plasmaformed from the gas mixture provided by the gas panel 193 to theprocessing system 132.

The controller 110 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 112, amemory 116, and a support circuit 114 utilized to control the processsequence and regulate the gas flows from the gas panel 193. The CPU 112may be of any form of a general purpose computer processor that may beused in an industrial setting. The software routines can be stored inthe memory 116, such as random access memory, read only memory, floppy,or hard disk drive, or other form of digital storage. The supportcircuit 114 is conventionally coupled to the CPU 112 and may includecache, clock circuits, input/output systems, power supplies, and thelike. Bi-directional communications between the controller 110 and thevarious components of the processing system 132 are handled throughnumerous signal cables collectively referred to as signal buses 118,some of which are illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 for enhancing a cleaning efficiencyafter cleaning a plasma processing chamber, such as the plasmaprocessing system 132 depicted in FIG. 1. The method 200 includes anin-situ chamber cleaning process that may integrate the cleaningefficiency enhancement process in a single cleaning step (e.g., a singlecleaning recipe) according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

The method 200 begins at operation 202 by performing a cleaning processin the plasma processing chamber. After the plasma processing system 132may be idled for a period of time or after a plasma process (including adeposition, etching, sputtering, or any plasma associated process) isperformed in the plasma processing system 132, a cleaning process may beperformed to remove chamber residuals or other contaminants. As theinterior of the plasma processing chamber, including chamber walls,substrate pedestal, or other components disposed in the plasmaprocessing system 132, may have film accumulation, by-products orcontamination present thereon left over from the previous plasmaprocesses, or flakes that have fallen of chamber inner walls whileidling or plasma processing, the cleaning process may be performed toclean the interior surfaces of the plasma processing chamber after asubstrate is removed from the processing system 132, or prior toproviding a substrate into the plasma processing chamber for subsequentprocessing.

The cleaning process removes contaminates and/or film accumulated fromthe interior of the plasma processing chamber, thus preventing unwantedparticles from falling on to the substrate disposed on the substratepedestal during the subsequent plasma processes. While performing thecleaning process at operation 202, no substrate is present in the plasmaprocessing system 132, e.g., in absence of a substrate disposed therein.The cleaning process is primarily performed to clean chamber componentsor inner wall/structures in the plasma processing system 132. In somecases, a dummy substrate, such as a clean silicon substrate without filmstack disposed thereon, may be disposed in the processing chamber toprotect the surface of the substrate pedestal as needed.

In one example, the cleaning process is performed by supplying acleaning gas mixture to the processing system 132 to clean the interiorof the plasma processing chamber. The cleaning gas mixture includes atleast a fluorine containing gas and an inert gas. In one embodiment, thefluorine containing gas as used in the cleaning gas mixture may beselected from a group consisting of NF₃, SF₆, HF, CF₄, and the like. Theinert gas may be He or Ar and the like. In one example, the fluorinecontaining gas supplied in the cleaning gas mixture is NF₃ gas and theinert gas is Ar.

During the cleaning process at operation 202, several process parametersmay be controlled. In one embodiment, the remote plasma source (the RPSsource 148 depicted in FIG. 1) may be supplied to the plasma processingsystem 132 between about 5000 Watt and about 20000 Watt, such as about10000 Watts. The RPS power may be may be applied to the processingchamber with or without RF source and bias power. The pressure of theprocessing chamber may be controlled at a pressure range less than 10Torr, such as between about 0.1 Torr and about 10 Torr, such as about 4Torr. It is believed that the low pressure control during the cleaningprocess may enable the spontaneity of cleaning reaction.

The fluorine containing gas supplied in the cleaning gas mixture may besupplied into the processing chamber at a flow rate between about 1 sccmand about 12000 sccm, for example about 2800 sccm. The inert gassupplied in the cleaning gas mixture may be supplied into the processingchamber at a flow rate between about 1 sccm to about 300 sccm, forexample about 500 sccm.

At operation 204, after the cleaning process at operation 202, a plasmatreatment process is then performed to remove residuals remained in theprocessing system 132 prior to another cycle of the plasma processperformed in the processing chamber. As discussed above, unwantedresiduals from the cleaning process, such as chamber flakes resultedfrom over-cleaning of the chamber components, may be generated orremained in the processing chamber. The plasma treatment process atoperation 204 may be performed to assist removing such residuals,particularly aluminum fluoride (AlF₃), or other contaminants from theprocessing system 132 to enhance cleanliness of the processing system132.

Experimental results indicated that the hydrogen and oxygen elements,particularly hydrogen element, from the plasma treatment gas mixtureassist reacting with metal containing contaminates, such as aluminumfluoride (AlF₃), present in the processing chamber, so as to efficientlyremove such metal containing contaminates from the interior of theplasma processing chamber.

A plasma formed from a plasma treatment gas mixture is used to plasmatreat interior surfaces of the processing system 132 to efficientlyreact with aluminum fluoride (AlF₃) or other sources of contamination.The contaminants, such as AlF₃, is energized into an excited state, suchas in radical forms, which may then easily react with plasma treatmentgas mixture, forming volatile gas byproducts, such as AlH₃ or HF*, whichis readily pumped out of the processing system 132. In one example, theplasma treatment gas mixture may include at least one hydrogencontaining gas and/or an oxygen containing gas. In another example, theplasma treatment gas mixture may include alternatively supplying ahydrogen containing gas and an oxygen containing gas for a number ofcycles to perform the plasma treatment process. When the hydrogencontaining gas and the oxygen containing gas are alternatively suppliedin the plasma treatment gas mixture, the hydrogen and the oxygencontaining gas may be separately and individually supplied with orwithout an inert gas, such as He or Ar.

Suitable examples of the hydrogen containing gas H₂, H₂O, NH₃, N₂H₂, andthe like. Suitable examples of the oxygen containing gas O₂, H₂O, O₃,H₂O₂, N₂O, NO₂, CO, CO₂ and the like. In one particular example, acarrier gas or an inert gas may also be supplied into the plasmatreatment gas mixture. Suitable examples of the carrier gas includenitrogen (N₂), hydrogen (H₂), and the like and suitable examples of theinert gas include He or Ar.

In one particular example, the hydrogen containing gas used in theplasma treatment gas mixture is H₂ or NH₃. The oxygen containing gasused in the plasma treatment gas mixture is N₂O or O₂. The carrier gasused in the plasma gas mixture is N₂ and the inert gas used in theplasma treatment gas mixture is Ar.

It is believed that hydrogen containing gas included in the plasmatreatment gas mixture during the plasma treatment process provides ahigh amount of hydrogen elements that reacts with the fluorine elementsin the metal containing contaminants, such as aluminum fluoride, formingvolatile gas byproducts, such as AlH₃ or HF, which is readily pumped outof the processing system 132. Subsequently, volatile gas byproducts,such as AlH₃, may further be decomposed as Al* or and H₂ gas in theprocessing chamber. Furthermore, the oxygen elements from the oxygencontaining gas may then react with the active metal contaminants, suchas the aluminum active species (such as Al* or Ar), to form metal oxide,such as aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃), thus passivating a thin layer on thesurfaces of the chamber components so as to prevent the surface of thechamber components from further damage or attack. Thus, by utilizing aplasma treatment gas mixture including at least a hydrogen containinggas and an oxygen containing gas, the interior surface of the processingchamber may be efficiently cleaned.

In some embodiments, an inert gas (such as Ar or He) or a carrier gas(such as N₂ or N₂O) may be supplied in the plasma treatment gas mixture.It is believed that the inert gas supplied in the plasma treatment gasmixture may assist increasing the life time of the ions in the plasmaformed from the plasma treatment gas mixture. Increased life time of theions may assist with reacting and activating the aluminum fluoride(AlF₃) or other source of contaminants more thoroughly, therebyenhancing the removal of the aluminum fluoride (AlF₃) or other source ofcontaminants from the processing system 132.

During the plasma treatment process at operation 204, several processparameters may be controlled. In one embodiment, the RF source power,such as the power provided by RF source 147, may be supplied to theplasma processing system 132 between about 50 Watt and about 2500 Watt,such as about 750 Watts. The RF source power may be may be applied tothe processing chamber with or without RPS power or RF source biaspower. The pressure of the processing chamber may be controlled at apressure range less than 10 Torr, such as between about 0.1 Torr andabout 10 Torr, such as about 4.5 Torr.

The hydrogen containing gas supplied in the plasma treatment gas mixturemay be supplied into the processing chamber at a flow rate between about1 sccm and about 5000 sccm, for example about 700 sccm. The inert gas,such as Ar gas, supplied in the plasma treatment gas mixture may besupplied into the processing chamber at a flow rate between about 100sccm to about 8000 sccm, for example about 3600 sccm. The carrier gas,such as N₂ gas, supplied in the plasma treatment gas mixture may besupplied into the processing chamber at a flow rate between about 100sccm to about 5000 sccm, for example about 1500 sccm. The oxygencontaining gas, such as N₂O gas, supplied in the plasma treatment gasmixture may be supplied into the processing chamber at a flow ratebetween about 50 sccm to about 50000 sccm, for example about 11000 sccm.In one or more embodiments, the gases added to provide the plasmatreatment gas mixture having at least a 1:30 ratio by flow volume ofhydrogen containing gas to oxygen containing gas, such as the ratiobetween about 1:1 and 1:20, for example about 1:15.

It is noted that the amount of each gas introduced into the processingchamber may be varied and adjusted to accommodate, for example, thethickness or the amount of the chamber residuals to be removed, thegeometry of the substrate being cleaned, the volume capacity of theplasma, the volume capacity of the chamber body, as well as thecapabilities of the vacuum system coupled to the chamber body.

At operation 206, after the plasma treatment process at operation 204, aseasoning process may be performed. As discussed above, after one ormore substrates have been processed in the processing system 132,typically, a cleaning process at operation 202 is performed to removethe deposition by-products deposited and accumulated in the chamberwalls. After the chamber walls has been sufficiently cleaned by thecleaning gases, the plasma treatment process at operation 204 isperformed to remove after clean byproduct (AlF) or other containmentfrom the processing chamber to enhance the cleaning efficiency. Afterthe cleaning by-products have been exhausted out of the chamber, aseasoning process at operation 206 is performed in the process chamber.The seasoning process is performed to deposit a seasoning film ontocomponents of the chamber to seal the cleaned or roughened surface ofthe processing chamber components so as to reduce the contamination thatmay generate or flake off from the chamber wall during process.

The seasoning process comprises coating a material, such as theseasoning film, on the interior surfaces of the chamber in accordancewith the subsequent deposition process recipe. In other words, thematerial of the seasoning film may be selected to have similarcompositions, or film properties of the film subsequently deposited onthe substrate. In one embodiment described herein, seasoning film coatedon the interior surfaces of the processing chamber is a silicon oxidelayer.

In one embodiment, the seasoning film may be deposited on the chamberinterior surface using a deposition gas mixture substantially identicalto the gas mixtures used in the following deposition processes performedin the plasma processing system 132 after the seasoning process. Theprocess parameters for coating the seasoning film may or may not be thesame as the subsequent deposition process to meet different processrequirements. During the seasoning process, a silicon precursor gas, anoxygen or a nitrogen containing gas and an inert gas may be flown intothe plasma processing system 132 where the RF bias power sources 147,184, 186 provide radio frequency energy to activate the precursor gasand enables a season film deposition process.

In an exemplary embodiment wherein the deposition process is configuredto deposit a silicon oxide film, a gas mixture including at least asilicon precursor, an oxygen containing gas and an inert gas, such asargon or a helium gas, may be supplied to the processing system 132 forseasoning film deposition. Silicon precursor as utilized may be SiH₄ gasor TEOS gas. Alternatively, in another exemplary embodiment wherein thedeposition process is configured to deposition a silicon nitride film, agas mixture including at least a silicon precursor, a nitrogencontaining gas and an inert gas may be supplied to the processing system132 for seasoning film deposition.

The RF power and gas flow rate may be adjusted to deposit the seasoningfilm with different silicon to oxide ratio, thereby providing a goodadhesion to the subsequent to-be-deposited deposition film. Furthermore,the RF power and gas flow rate may be adjusted to control the depositionrate of the seasoning film, thereby efficiently depositing the seasoningfilm with a desired range of thickness to provide good protection andadhesion to the underlying chamber components, chamber parts andto-be-deposited. In one embodiment, the seasoning process may beperformed for about 1 seconds to about 200 seconds to form a seasoningfilm having a thickness greater than 20000 Å.

Accordingly, methods and apparatus for performing an in-situ plasmatreatment process after a cleaning process are provided to enhancecleaning efficiency of a plasma processing chamber without breakingvacuum. The methods includes a plasma treatment process utilizing ahydrogen containing gas and an oxygen containing gas to assist removingover-cleaning residuals or other sources of contaminants in theprocessing chamber and after a plasma cleaning process is performed butprior to a chamber seasoning process. The in-situ plasma treatmentprocess may efficiently remove the residuals, including metalcontaminants, such as AlF, from the interior of the plasma processingchamber, thereby maintaining the plasma processing chamber in a desiredclean condition and producing high quality of semiconductor deviceswithout particular pollution.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, other and further embodiments of the disclosure may bedevised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scopethereof is determined by the claims that follow.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for performing a plasma treatmentprocess after a plasma cleaning process, comprising: performing a plasmacleaning process in a plasma processing chamber in the absence of asubstrate disposed therein; subsequently performing a post-clean plasmatreatment process by supplying a plasma treatment gas mixture includingat least a hydrogen containing gas and an oxygen containing gas into theplasma processing chamber, wherein the hydrogen containing gas and theoxygen containing gas are alternatively and individually supplied intothe plasma processing chamber; applying a RF source power to theprocessing chamber to form a plasma from the plasma treatment gasmixture; and plasma treating an interior surface of the processingchamber; and subsequently performing a seasoning process after plasmatreating the interior surface of the processing chamber.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the hydrogen containing gas supplied in the plasmatreatment gas mixture includes H₂, H₂O, NH₃ or N₂H₂.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the oxygen containing gas is selected from a groupconsisting of O₂, H₂O, N₂O, NO₂, O₃, CO and CO₂.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the hydrogen containing gas and the oxygen containing gas aresupplied at a flow ratio of between about 1:1 and about 1:20.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the hydrogen containing gas is NH₃ or H₂ andthe oxygen containing gas is N₂O.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinperforming the seasoning process further comprises: forming a siliconcontaining seasoning film on the interior surface of the processingchamber.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the cleaningprocess further comprises: supplying a fluorine containing gas to theprocessing chamber for cleaning.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereinsupplying the fluorine containing gas further comprises: generating aremote plasma from the fluorine containing gas prior to delivering tothe processing chamber.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein plasmatreating the interior surface of the processing chamber furthercomprises: reacting metal containing contaminants with the hydrogencontaining gas supplied from the plasma treatment gas mixture.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein reacting the metal containing contaminantswith the hydrogen containing gas further comprises: forming an metaloxide on the interior surface by the oxygen containing gas from theplasma treatment gas mixture of the processing chamber.
 11. The methodof claim 10, wherein the metal oxide is Al₂O₃.
 12. The method of claim9, wherein the metal containing contaminants is AIF.
 13. A method forperforming a plasma treatment process after a plasma cleaning process,comprising: performing a cleaning process in a plasma processing chamberin the absence of a substrate disposed therein; in-situ performing aplasma treatment process in the processing chamber by supplying a plasmatreatment gas mixture including at least a hydrogen containing gas andan oxygen containing gas into the plasma processing chamber, wherein thehydrogen containing gas and the oxygen containing gas are alternativelyand individually supplied into the plasma processing chamber; andperforming a seasoning process after the plasma treatment process in theprocessing chamber, wherein the cleaning process, plasma treatmentprocess and the seasoning process are controlled by a single recipehaving multiple steps integrated in the plasma processing chamber. 14.The method of claim 13, wherein the plasma treatment gas mixtureincludes N₂O, N₂, and NH₃ or H₂.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein thetreatment process is performed by generating a plasma by a RF sourcepower generated from the plasma treatment gas mixture.
 16. The method ofclaim 13, wherein the plasma treatment process is performed to removealuminum fluoride from the processing chamber.
 17. A method forperforming a plasma treatment process after cleaning a plasma process,comprising: supplying a cleaning gas mixture including a fluorinecontaining gas supplied from a remote plasma source in a plasmaprocessing chamber in the absence of a substrate; subsequently supplyinga plasma treatment gas mixture including oxygen containing gas andhydrogen containing gas to form a plasma from a RF source powergenerated in the plasma treatment gas mixture to remove metalcontaminants from an interior surface of the processing chamber, whereinthe hydrogen containing gas and the oxygen containing gas arealternatively and individually supplied into the plasma processingchamber; and subsequently supplying a seasoning film gas mixture to forma seasoning layer on the interior surface of the plasma processingchamber.